Method and apparatus for network maintenance and supervision of a controlled display portion

ABSTRACT

A method for controlled display on a telephone, the method constituted of: downloading a display portion from a first network to the telephone; detecting a call instance; displaying on the telephone the downloaded display portion responsive to the detected call instance; in the event the data communication module is in communication with the first network, requesting, via the data communication module, a new display portion from the first network; and in the event the data communication module is not in communication with the first network, creating a time stamp and storing the time stamp on a memory of the telephone.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/550,759, filed Jul. 17, 2012, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/059,973, which entered national stage on Feb.19, 2011 from PCT application PCT/IL2009/000640 filed Jun. 28, 2009,entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RINGBACK TONE REPLACEMENT WITHDOWNLOADED AUDIO FILES”. U.S. application Ser. No. 13/059,973 claimspriority from U.S. provisional application 61/090,480 filed Aug. 20,2008, entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FROM NETWORK MAINTENANCE ANDSUPERVISION OF AN ON-BOARD CONTROLLED AUDIO PORTION”. The entirecontents of each of the above are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

The invention relates generally to the field of telephone communicationsand in particular to a method and apparatus for network maintenance andsupervision of a local telephone agent providing controlled audio to acaller until detection of call completion or failure.

Bi-directional voice communication, where one party may select a secondparty for communication, is generally known as telephone communication.Telephone communication originated with a direct wire connection betweenthe calling party, i.e. the call initiator, and the called party, i.e.the second party, and a switchboard system was developed to enable setup and tear down of connections between the calling party and the calledparty.

The switchboard system was replaced with automated switching systems,and voice communication developed into a world spanning interconnectedset of voice networks. The term telephone, and telephone network, asused throughout this document includes both fixed telephones and mobilephones, as well as voice communication carried apart from dedicatedvoice networks, including without limitation voice communication carriedby Voice over Internet protocol, irrespective as to whether one or moreof the parties is communicating by telephone, computer or other deviceproviding voice communication.

Different telephone networks have been seamlessly interconnected,allowing for telephone communication to be initiated from any voicecapable station around the world, for connection to any other voicecapable station. In most telephone communication systems, an initiatingparty enters some identification of the party to be called, i.e. thesecond party, and the telephone network associated with the initiatingparty begins to set up the call by first identifying the telephonenetwork of the second party, in the event that the second party is notassociated with the same telephone network, and then arranging a voicecommunication path in accordance with the appropriate protocols. Somemethod of signaling the second party is typically provided by thetelephone network associated with the second party, and the second partymay select to participate in the telephone communication by signaling awillingness to respond, such as by raising the telephone receiver orpressing the connect button on a mobile telephone. Upon signaling thewillingness to respond, a telephone communication channel is typicallydesignated, allowing for bi-directional voice communication.

From the time that the initiating party enters the identification of theparty to be called until the telephone communication channel is actuallydesignated there is a time lag. Historically, an audio ring back wasprovided by the telephone network associated with the called party, withthe ring back signal being received at the initiating party telephoneinstrument and output by an audio output device, such as a speaker. Thering back signal provides audio confirmation that an attempt to accessthe called party was in progress.

The ring back signal was originally generated by the various telephonenetworks. Recently, various mobile telephone networks, and suppliers,have implemented personalized ring back tunes, wherein a called party'stelephone sends a particular music selection as a ring back signal whilesignaling the called party. Significant revenue has been generated forthe mobile telephone networks by the sales of these downloadable ringback tunes.

Companies such as NMS Communications of Framingham, Mass., have furtherintroduced advertising ring back. Such a service enables a calledparty's telephone to transmit an advertisement as the ring back signal.Unfortunately, incoming calls are received on a seemingly random basis,with no ability for advertisers to target those receiving theadvertisement ring back signal. All callers, irrespective of relevanceto the advertiser's message, receive the advertisement when they call atelephone which has been signed up for the service.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,224,788 issued May 29, 2007 to Rhee et al., the entirecontent of which is incorporated herein by reference, is addressed to avoice/text/image commercial information generating method and deviceoperative while waiting for a communication channel to be established.The voice/text/image commercial information generating method and deviceis associated with one of the telephone network of the initiatingtelephone, and the telephone network of the called party.

Disadvantageously, in the event that commercial information isgenerated, no criteria are supplied to arrange for an appropriateadvertising mix. In the absence of such an advertising mix, users willquickly tune out the advertisement, or arrange to have the servicediscontinued. It is interesting to note that Rhee provides for a ringback tone hearing mode, which effectively bypasses any suchvoice/text/image commercial information.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention toovercome at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art. In certainembodiments this is provided by a telephone exhibiting an on-boardcontrolled audio agent. In one embodiment the on-board controlled audioagent is constituted of machine readable instructions stored within thecalling telephone and run by a processor of the telephone. A callcondition classifier is further provided, either within the telephone,or associated with a telephone network of the initiating telephone. Thecall condition classifier monitors the condition of the call as thecalled party is contacted, and classifies the condition of the call asone of awaiting a response, answered and failed. Preferably only upondetection of a human voice response or an answering service response isthe call condition determined as answered.

Upon initiation of a telephone call by the initiating telephone, theon-board controlled audio agent outputs a selected one of a plurality ofaudio portions, and maintains the selected audio portion until the callcondition is identified as one of answered and failed. In the event thatthe call condition is identified as answered, the audio portion isdiscontinued, and the telephone channel between the initiating telephoneand the called telephone is enabled.

In certain embodiments the plurality of audio portions are constitutedof advertisements. In certain embodiments associated text, an image orimages or a video portion may be further associated with the audioportion for display on a telephone display of the caller.

In certain embodiments, associated with each of the audio portions is atleast one reimbursement rule, and the controlled audio agent isoperative to select the audio portion responsive to the reimbursementrules. Preferably the controlled audio agent is operative to select theaudio portion so as to maximize total reimbursement responsive to thereimbursement rules. In certain embodiments, the controlled audio agentis further operative to prevent repetitive replay of a particular one ofsaid plurality of audio portions overriding the drive to maximize totalreimbursement.

In certain embodiments the controlled audio agent maintains a history ofaudio portions output to the caller, and uploads the history to anetwork maintenance and supervision agent. The network maintenance andsupervision agent is operative to regularly provide updatedreimbursement rules and audio portions responsive to the uploadedhistory. Preferably, the audio portions and reimbursement rules areresponsive to user descriptive data of the caller. Preferably userdescriptive data comprises at least one of: age, sex, income, jobdescription and preferred hobby.

In certain embodiments a method for network maintenance and supervisionof an on-board controlled audio agent is provided, the methodcomprising: providing a plurality of audio portions, each of theprovided audio portions being selected responsive to user descriptivedata associated with a call initiator; providing a reimbursement ruleassociated with each of the audio portions; selecting, for each callinstance, a particular one of the plurality of audio portions responsiveto the determined reimbursement rules; and outputting the particular oneof the plurality of audio portions at each call instance initiation suchthat at least a portion of the particular audio portion is heard by thecall initiator prior to call connection.

In certain embodiments a system for network maintenance and supervisionof a locally controlled audio portion is provided, the systemcomprising: a controlled audio agent on-board a telephone; a memoryassociated with the controlled audio agent, the memory exhibiting aplurality of audio portions stored thereon responsive to the controlledaudio agent; and a network maintenance and supervision agent associatedwith a telephone network, the network maintenance and supervision agentoperative to provide each of the provided audio portions to thecontrolled audio agent responsive to user descriptive data associatedwith a caller, each of the provided audio portions having associatedtherewith a reimbursement rule associated with each of the audioportions, the controlled audio agent operative to: select, for each callinstance, a particular one of the plurality of audio portions responsiveto the reimbursement rules; and output the particular one of theplurality of audio portions at each call instance initiation such thatat least a portion of the particular audio portion is heard by the callinitiator prior to call connection.

In one independent embodiment, an apparatus for controlled advertisementdisplay on a telephone is provided, the apparatus comprising: acontrolled display agent on-board the telephone; and a datacommunication module arranged to download a plurality of displayportions from a first network to the display agent, each display portionillustrating an advertisement different than the advertisementsillustrated by the other display portions, the display agent arrangedto: select a particular one of the downloaded display portions; anddisplay on the telephone the selected display portion responsive to acall instance.

In one embodiment, the selected display portion is displayed on thetelephone responsive to a call instance termination. In one furtherembodiment, all of the downloaded display portions are arranged to bedisplayed responsive to a predetermined number of call instanceterminations.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will become apparentfrom the following drawings and description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of various embodiments of the invention andto show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now bemade, purely by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in whichlike numerals designate corresponding elements or sections throughout.

With specific reference now to the drawings in detail, it is stressedthat the particulars shown are by way of example and for purposes ofillustrative discussion of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention only, and are presented in the cause of providing what isbelieved to be the most useful and readily understood description of theprinciples and conceptual aspects of the invention. In this regard, noattempt is made to show structural details of the invention in moredetail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of theinvention, the description taken with the drawings making apparent tothose skilled in the art how the several forms of the invention may beembodied in practice. In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a communicationsystem connecting a calling telephone and a called telephone;

FIG. 2. illustrates a high level schematic diagram of the callingtelephone of FIG. 1 providing a controlled audio portion to a calleraccording to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3A illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a communicationsystem connecting a subscribed telephone and a commercial informationserver according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 3B illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a communicationsystem connecting a subscribed telephone, a network maintenance andsupervision agent and a commercial information server according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of providing acontrolled audio portion to a caller according to an exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of selecting theprovided audio portion according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of updating thestored audio portions and associated reimbursement rules according to anexemplary embodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of networkmaintenance and supervision of an on-board controlled audio agentaccording to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 8A illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a telephonecomprising a first embodiment of an apparatus for controlledadvertisement display;

FIG. 8B illustrates a high level block diagram of the apparatus of FIG.8A;

FIG. 9A illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a telephonecomprising a second embodiment of an apparatus for controlledadvertisement display;

FIG. 9B illustrates a high level block diagram of the apparatus of FIG.9A;

FIG. 10 illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of controlledadvertisement display on a telephone;

FIG. 11 illustrates a high level block diagram of a third embodiment ofan apparatus for controlled advertisement display;

FIG. 12A illustrates a high level block diagram of a fourth embodimentof an apparatus for controlled advertisement display;

FIG. 12B illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of operation ofthe apparatus of FIG. 12A;

FIG. 13A illustrates a high level block diagram of an apparatus forcontrolled advertisement display; and

FIG. 13B illustrates a high level low chart of the method of operationof apparatus for controlled advertisement display of FIG. 13A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain of the present embodiments enable a telephone exhibiting anon-board controlled audio agent. In one embodiment the on-boardcontrolled audio agent is constituted of machine readable instructionsstored within the calling telephone and run by a processor of thetelephone. A call condition classifier is further provided, eitherwithin the telephone, or associated with a telephone network of theinitiating telephone. The call condition classifier monitors thecondition of the call as the called party is contacted, and classifiesthe condition of the call as one of awaiting a response, answered andfailed. Preferably only upon detection of a human voice response or ananswering service response is the call condition determined as answered.

Upon initiation of a telephone call by the initiating telephone, theon-board controlled audio agent outputs a selected one of a plurality ofaudio portions, and maintains the selected audio portion until the callcondition is identified as one of answered and failed. In the event thatthe call condition is identified as answered, the audio portion isdiscontinued, and the telephone channel between the initiating telephoneand the called telephone is enabled.

In certain embodiments the plurality of audio portions are constitutedof advertisements. In certain embodiments associated text, an image orimages or a video portion may be further associated with the audioportion for display on a telephone display of the caller.

In certain embodiments, associated with each of the audio portions is atleast one reimbursement rule, and the controlled audio agent isoperative to select the audio portion responsive to the reimbursementrules. Preferably the controlled audio agent is operative to select theaudio portion so as to maximize total reimbursement responsive to thereimbursement rules. In certain embodiments, the controlled audio agentis further operative to prevent repetitive replay of a particular one ofsaid plurality of audio portions overriding the drive to maximize totalreimbursement.

In certain embodiments the controlled audio agent maintains a history ofaudio portions output to the caller, and uploads the history to anetwork maintenance and supervision agent. The network maintenance andsupervision agent is operative to regularly provide updatedreimbursement rules and audio portions responsive to the uploadedhistory. Preferably, the audio portions and reimbursement rules areresponsive to user descriptive data of the caller. Preferably userdescriptive data comprises at least one of: age, sex, income, jobdescription and preferred hobby.

Before explaining at least one embodiment in detail, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited in its application to thedetails of construction and the arrangement of the components set forthin the following description or illustrated in the drawings. Theinvention is applicable to other embodiments being practiced or carriedout in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseologyand terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description andshould not be regarded as limiting.

FIG. 1 illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a communicationsystem 10 comprising a PSTN/Internet/Mobile interchange 20, a callingtelephone network 30, an optional call condition classifier 35, a calledtelephone network 40, a ring back generator 45, a plurality of cellularantennas 50, a called telephone 60 and a calling telephone 70 comprisingtherein an on-board controlled audio agent 80. PSTN/Internet/Mobileinterchange 20 is in communication with calling telephone network 30 andwith called telephone network 40. Calling telephone network 30 is incommunication with optional call condition classifier 35 and calledtelephone network 40 is in communication with ring back generator 45.Calling telephone network 30 is in communication with a plurality ofcellular antennas 50, and in particular with the cellular antenna 50which is in communication with calling telephone 70. Called telephonenetwork 40 is in communication with a plurality of cellular antennas 50,and in particular with the cellular antenna 50 which is in communicationwith called telephone 60.

Ring back generator 45 is illustrated as a component in communicationwith called telephone network 40, however this is not meant to belimiting in any way. In one embodiment, ring back generator 45 isembedded within called telephone network 40, and in another embodimentring back generator 45 is provided by called telephone 60.

In operation, a call instance is initiated from calling telephone 70.Calling telephone network 30 receives a call initiation signal fromcalling telephone 70 via cellular antenna 50, and is operative torequest from called telephone network 40, via PSTN/Internet/Mobileinterchange 20, to enable a telephone channel between calling telephone70 and called telephone 60. Such a channel is enabled cooperativelybetween calling telephone network 30 and called telephone network 40,and is completed upon called telephone 60 answering. The channel isreleased upon completion of the telephone call.

The term telephone channel as used herein is not meant to be limiting toa fixed time domain multiplexed channel, and is particularly meant toinclude a logical channel, such as the logical channel implement byVoIP.

While calling telephone network 30, in cooperation with called telephonenetwork 40, attempts to enable the telephone channel between callingtelephone 70 and called telephone 60, on-board controlled audio agent 80outputs a selected audio portion from calling telephone 70, and blocksany received audio from the called telephone 60 and/or called telephonenetwork 40. A user at calling telephone 70 thus does not hear the outputof ring back generator 45, which is operative to generate a ring backtone responsive to signaling of called telephone 60. Optional callcondition classifier 35 is in communication with calling telephonenetwork 30 and is operative to continuously monitor the condition of thetelephone call. In particular, optional call condition classifier 35 ispreferably operative to classify the condition of the call as one ofanswered, awaiting voice response and failed. Preferably only upondetection of a human voice response or an answering service response isthe call condition determined as answered. Call condition classifier 35is in data communication with on-board controlled audio agent 80, andnotifies on-board controlled audio agent 80 of the classified conditionof the call. Upon notification from call condition classifier 35 thatthe call condition is classified as answered, on-board controlled audioagent 80 ceases to output the selected audio portion and enables audiooutput of the answered telephone channel.

FIG. 2 illustrates a high level schematic diagram of an embodiment ofcalling telephone 70 of FIG. 1 comprising: a keypad 100; a send button110; an on-board controlled audio agent 120; a speaker 130; an audioswitch mechanism 135; a receive audio mechanism 140; an optional callcondition classifier 150; a supervisory functionality 160; a memory 170;a data communication module 180; and a display 190. Memory 170preferably comprises an audio portion storage 172, an identifier storage174, a history storage 176 and a reimbursement rules storage 178.

In one embodiment the combination of on-board controlled audio agent120, optional call condition classifier 150, supervisory functionality160 and data communication module 180 constitutes a telephone agent 195.In another embodiment (not shown), telephone agent 195 is constituted ofon-board controlled audio agent 120 in cooperation with optional callcondition classifier 35.

Respective connections of on-board controlled audio agent 120 arecoupled to send button 110, supervisory functionality 160, audio portionstorage 170, the control input of audio switch mechanism 135, a firstaudio input of audio switch mechanism 135 and optional call conditionclassifier 150. Supervisory functionality 160 is coupled to audioportion storage 170 and data communication module 180. Receive audiomechanism 140 is connected to a second audio input of audio switchmechanism 135. Speaker 130 is connected to the output of audio switchmechanism 135. In one non-limiting embodiment, at least one of on-boardcontrolled audio agent 120; optional call condition classifier 150;supervisory functionality 160; and data communication module 180 isimplemented as a software code providing the respective functionality,the software code being run on a processor of telephone 70.

The above has been described in relation to an implementation comprisinga dedicated send button 110, however this is not meant to be limiting inany way. In particular the use of a soft button, or automated dialingsoftware is particularly contemplated. The term send button 110 is thusdescriptive of a functionality operative to initiate a phone call andnot a particular key.

In operation, audio switch mechanism 135 is operative, responsive to asignal at the control input of audio switch mechanism 135 provided byon-board controlled audio agent 120, to alternately pass the audiooutput of on-board controlled audio agent 120 to speaker 130 and theaudio output receive audio mechanism 140 to speaker 130.

Upon call initiation by a user via keypad 100 and send button 110,on-board controlled audio agent 120 is operative to control audio switchmechanism 135 to connect to the audio output of on-board controlledaudio agent 120 to speaker 130. On-board controlled audio agent 120 isfurther operative, preferably responsive to supervisory functionality160 to output a selected audio portion from the plurality of audioportions stored in audio portion storage 172 of memory 170 for output atspeaker 130. In one embodiment, supervisory functionality 160 is furtheroperative to store history information of the selected audio portion inhistory portion 176 of memory 170, associated with an identifier of theselected audio portion stored in identifier storage 174, and the lengthof time the selected audio portion was provided for output at speaker130. In another embodiment, supervisory functionality 160 is furtheroperative to maintain reimbursement rules associated with each of theaudio portions and store the reimbursement rules in reimbursement rulesstorage 178. In one embodiment, the particular audio portion selectedfrom audio portion storage 172 is selected responsive to thereimbursement rules stored in reimbursement rules storage 178.

The contents of memory 170 is not static, and both the audio portionsstored in audio portions storage 172, the respective identifiers storein identifier storage 174 and the reimbursement rules stored inreimbursement rules storage 178 may be changed responsive to a receiveddata via data communication module 180, as will be described furtherhereinto below.

Optional call condition classifier 150 is operative as described abovein relation to optional call condition classifier 35 of FIG. 1, and inone embodiment only one of optional call condition classifier 35 andoptional call condition classifier 150 is provided. In the event thatoptional call condition classifier 35 is provided at the network side,data from optional call condition classifier 35 is provided to on-boardcontrolled audio agent 120 via data communication module 180 andsupervisory functionality 160.

Receive audio mechanism 140 receives audio from called telephone 60 orcalled telephone network 40 and transfers it to optional call conditionclassifier 150. The received audio is not transferred to speaker 130because audio switch mechanism 135 is connected to pass audio fromon-board controlled audio agent 120. One of optional call conditionclassifier 35 and optional call condition classifier 150 continuouslymonitors the condition of the call as the called party is contacted, andclassifies the condition of the call as one of awaiting a response,answered and failed. Preferably only upon detection of a human voiceresponse or an answering service response is the call conditiondetermined as answered. In the event that one of optional call conditionclassifier 35 and optional call condition classifier 150 classifies thecondition of the call as awaiting a response, on-board controlled audioagent 120 maintains the output of the selected audio portion at speaker130. In the event that one of optional call condition classifier 35 andoptional call condition classifier 150 classifies the condition of thecall as answered, on-board controlled audio agent 120 enables audioswitch mechanism 135 to connect receive audio mechanism 140 to speaker130, thereby outputting received audio of the telephone channel. In theevent that one of optional call condition classifier 35 and optionalcall condition classifier 150 classifies the condition of the call asfailed, audio agent 120 disables the selected audio portion, optionallyafter completing a predetermined minimum section thereof, and a failuremessage is output at the telephone.

The above has been described in an embodiment in which only an audioportion is sent to speaker 130 until call answer or failure, howeverthis is not meant to be limiting in any way. In another embodiment,additionally at least one of an associated text, an associated image andan associated video portion is further output on display 190 of callingtelephone 70. Optionally, a user may respond to one of the audioportion, associated text, associated image and associated video portionby providing an input at keypad 100. In one embodiment the user input isstored and acted upon by supervisory functionality 160 after completionof the telephone call. In one particular embodiment the audio portionrepresents an advertisement. In one particular further embodiment, theuser input at keypad 100 may present an entry to a purchasing system, ormay initiate the transmission of a discount or rebate instrument such asa coupon. In another particular embodiment, the user input at keypad 100may initiate entry into a survey with a concomitant chance reward.Preferably, any such response from the user is further stored in historystorage 176.

Optional call classifier 35 and optional call classifier 150 are in oneembodiment in accordance with the teaching of one or more of: U.S. Pat.No. 6,041,116 issued Mar. 21, 2000 to Meyers; U.S. Pat. No. 6,385,548issued May 7, 2002 to Ananthaiyer et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,925,166issued Aug. 2, 2005 to Chan, the entire contents of each of which areincorporated herein by reference.

FIG. 3A illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a communicationsystem comprising a commercial information server 200, a subscriber'sprivate information server 210, a calling telephone network 220, anaudio portion source 250, a cellular antenna 50 and a calling telephone70. Commercial information server 200 comprises a plurality of audioportions. In one embodiment the plurality of audio portions comprises atleast one of advertisements, music and composite information such asnews, weather, sports, stock prices, humor and entertainment. Commercialinformation server 200 further comprises reimbursement rules associatedwith each of the plurality of audio portions. There is no requirementthat the reimbursement rules be static, and in one embodiment commercialinformation server 200 is further operative to transfer a composite ofhistory information received from each of the supervisoryfunctionalities 160 of the various telephone's 70 to audio portionsource 250, and in response a change in reimbursement rules or audioportion may be sent by audio portion source 250 to commercialinformation server 200.

Subscriber's private information server 210 comprises user descriptivedata such as at least one of age, sex, income, job description andpreferred hobby. Subscriber's private information server 210 is incommunication with commercial information server 200 and via callingtelephone network 220 each of the subscribing telephones 70. Callingtelephone network 220 is in communication with calling telephone 70 viacellular antenna 50.

In operation, responsive to user descriptive data stored on subscriber'sprivate information server 210, selected audio portions from commercialinformation server 200 and optional related reimbursement rules aredownloaded to telephones 70 whose user descriptive data matches a targetprofile. In one embodiment, the reimbursement rules are sensitive tocertain user descriptive data, and no reimbursement is offered forsubscriber's whose user descriptive data stored on subscriber's privateinformation server 210 does not match a desired profile.

In general, the combination of subscriber's private information server210 and commercial information server 200 functions as a networkmaintenance and supervision agent to deliver selected audio portions andreimbursement rules consonant with user descriptive data stored onsubscriber's private information server 210.

FIG. 3B illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a communicationsystem comprising a commercial information server 200, a subscriber'sprivate information server 210, a calling telephone network 220, anaudio portion source 250, a network maintenance and supervision agent260, a cellular antenna 50 and a calling telephone 70. Commercialinformation server 200 comprises a plurality of audio portions. In oneembodiment the plurality of audio portions comprises at least one ofadvertisements, music and composite information such as news, weather,sports, stock prices, humor and entertainment. Commercial informationserver 200 further comprises reimbursement rules associated with each ofthe plurality of audio portions.

Subscriber's private information server 210 is in communication withnetwork maintenance and supervision agent 260, and is in communicationwith a subscriber associated with calling telephone 70 via a networksuch as the Internet (not shown). Network maintenance and supervisionagent 260 is in communication with each of commercial information server200, each calling telephone 70 via calling telephone network 220 andaudio portion source 250. Audio portion source 250 is further incommunication with commercial information server 200. A single audioportion source 250 is illustrated, however this is not meant to belimiting in any way, and a plurality of independent audio portionsources 250 is specifically contemplated.

In operation, subscriber's private information server 210 comprises userdescriptive data, preferably comprising at least one of age, sex,income, job description and preferred hobby for each calling telephone70 associated with calling telephone network 220 for which asubscription to the service associated with commercial informationserver 200 has been arranged. There is no requirement that each callingtelephone 70 subscribe to the service associated with commercialinformation server 200. Subscription to the service associated withcommercial information server 200 is in one embodiment accomplished viaa web page, at which user descriptive data is entered.

Network maintenance and supervision agent 260 is operative to downloadto each calling telephone 70 associated with calling telephone network200, for which information is found on subscriber's private informationserver 210, a plurality of selected audio portions from commercialinformation server 200, the plurality of audio portions being selectedfor downloading responsive to the user descriptive data on subscriber'sprivate information server 210. Network maintenance and supervisionagent 260 is further operative to download to each calling telephonereimbursement rules associated with each of the downloaded audioportions, the reimbursement rules defining remuneration to thesubscriber associated with calling telephone 70. Preferably, thereimbursement rules are further responsive to the user descriptive dataon subscriber's private information server 210. In particular, the audioportions selected are preferably those for which user descriptive datamatches a target profile. In one embodiment, the reimbursement rules aresensitive to certain user descriptive data, and no reimbursement isoffered for subscribers whose user descriptive data stored onsubscriber's private information server 210 does not match a desiredprofile.

Network maintenance and supervision agent 260 is further operative toautomatically upload from each calling telephone 70, preferably on aperiodic basis, history information associated with each of thedownloaded audio portions, as described above in relation to historystorage 176 of FIG. 2. In certain embodiments, network maintenance andsupervision agent 260 is further operative to consolidate historyinformation from a plurality of calling telephones 70, and provide theconsolidated history information to audio portion source 250. In anembodiment in which a plurality of audio portion sources 250 aresupplied, the consolidated history information for each audio portion ispreferably supplied to the sourcing audio portion source 250.

Audio portion source 250 is operative to upload to commercialinformation server 200 updated audio portions and/or reimbursementrules. The updated audio portions and/or reimbursement rules may beuploaded on a scheduled basis, or responsive to consolidated historyinformation. In one non-limiting example, in which an uploadedconsolidated history comprises information regarding user inputsreceived, as described above in relation to FIG. 2, audio portion source250 updates one or more of the audio portions and reimbursement rulesstored on commercial information server 200 responsive to informationregarding user inputs.

The above has been described in an embodiment in which a consolidatedhistory report is supplied to audio portion source 250, however this isnot meant to be limiting in any way. In another embodiment particularinformation regarding selected subscribers and their associated historyis provided to audio portion source 250.

FIG. 4 illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of providing acontrolled audio portion to a caller according to an exemplaryembodiment. In stage 1000 a controlled audio agent is provided within atelephone, such as on-board controlled audio agent 120 of FIG. 2. Instage 1010 initiation of a telephone call is detected. In stage 1020 aselected audio portion is output at the initiating telephone. Optionallythe selected audio portion is an advertisement, music or compositeinformation, however there is no requirement that all of the audioportions be of the same category. Optionally the selected audio portionfor each instance of a call initiation is selected from a plurality ofaudio portions. In one embodiment, additionally at least one of anassociated text, an associated image and an associated video portion isfurther output on a display of calling telephone. In another embodiment,a user input responsive to the audio portion is stored to be acted uponafter completion of the call.

In optional stage 1030 history information of the selected audioportion, including the length of time played, is stored. In optionalstage 1040 the output of audio information received from the calledtelephone or called telephone network is prevented. In stage 1050 thecondition of the call is continuously classified as one of answered,awaiting voice response and failed.

In stage 1060 the call condition of stage 1050 is compared to determineif the condition of the call condition is awaiting voice response. Inthe event that the condition of the call is awaiting voice response, instage 1070 the output of the selected audio portion at the initiatingtelephone is maintained and stage 1030, as described above, isperformed.

In the event that in stage 1060 the call condition is not awaiting voiceresponse, in stage 1080 the condition of the call is further compared todetermine if the call condition is answered, i.e., a human voice orvoice messaging has been detected. In the event that the call conditionis answered, in stage 1090 the output of audio information from thecalled telephone or a voice message from the called telephone network orcalled telephone is enabled, and the output of the selected audioportion is disabled.

In the event that in stage 1080 the condition of the call is notanswered, i.e., the condition of the call is failed, in stage 1100 afailure message is output at the calling telephone and stage 1010, asdescribed above, is performed. In one embodiment a text messageindicative of a failed call is further displayed. In one embodiment, inthe event of a failed call, a predetermined minimum section of theselected audio portion is output prior to outputting the failure messageof stage 1100.

FIG. 5 illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of selecting theprovided audio portion according to an exemplary embodiment. In stage2000 a controlled audio agent is provided within a telephone, such ason-board controlled audio agent 120 of FIG. 2. In stage 2010 a pluralityof audio portions and reimbursement information associated with eachaudio portion is stored. The audio portions preferably comprise one ofan advertisement, music and composite information, however there is norequirement that all of the audio portions be of the same category. Instage 2020 initiation of a telephone call is detected. In stage 2030 aselected audio portion is output at the initiating telephone, theselected audio portion being selected responsive to the storedreimbursement rules. Optionally the selected audio portion is anadvertisement. In one embodiment, additionally at least one of anassociated text, an associated image and an associated video portion isfurther output on a display of the calling telephone. In anotherembodiment, a user input responsive to the selected audio portion isstored to be acted upon after completion of the call.

In optional stage 2040 history information of the selected audioportion, including the length of time played, is stored. In oneembodiment, the history information further comprises user feedback asdescribed above in relation to FIG. 2. In optional stage 2050 the outputof audio information received from the called telephone or calledtelephone network is prevented. In stage 2060 the condition of the callis continuously classified as one of answered, awaiting voice responseand failed.

In stage 2070 the call condition of stage 2060 is compared to determineif the condition of the call condition is awaiting voice response. Inthe event that the condition of the call is awaiting voice response, instage 2080 the output of the selected audio portion at the initiatingtelephone is maintained and stage 2040, as described above, isperformed.

In the event that in stage 2070 the call condition is not awaiting voiceresponse, in stage 2090 the condition of the call is further compared todetermine if the call condition is answered, i.e., a human voice orvoice messaging has been detected. In the event that the call conditionis answered, in stage 2100 the output of audio information from thecalled telephone or a voice message from the called telephone network orcalled telephone is enabled, and the output of the selected audioportion is disabled.

In the event that in stage 2090 the condition of the call is notanswered, i.e., the condition of the call is failed, in stage 2110 afailure message is output at the calling telephone and stage 2020, asdescribed above, is performed. In one embodiment a text messageindicative of a failed call is further displayed. In one embodiment, inthe event of a failed call, a predetermined minimum section of theselected audio portion is output prior to outputting the failure messageof stage 2110.

FIG. 6 illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of updating thestored audio portions and associated reimbursement rules according to anexemplary embodiment. In stage 3000 a server is provided, the providedserver associated with a telephone network. In one embodiment, theserver of stage 3000 comprises a combination of commercial informationserver 200 and subscriber's private information server 210 of FIG. 3.

In stage 3010 the provided server of stage 3000 connects automaticallyto each of the telephones in the network via the calling network,preferably on a periodic basis. In another embodiment the providedserver connects with telephones in the network responsive to events,such as a certain number of calls made by each of the respectivetelephones. In stage 3020 the history of the outputted selected audioportions and associated reimbursement rules, such as that stored onhistory storage 176 of FIG. 2 is uploaded to the server. In stage 3030the plurality of audio portions and reimbursement rules are updated foreach telephone, preferably by downloading revised information forstorage in audio portion storage 172 and reimbursement rules storage178. Optionally, the updated information is responsive to the datauploaded in stage 3020.

FIG. 7 illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of networkmaintenance and supervision of an on-board controlled audio agentaccording to an exemplary embodiment. In one particular embodiment, themethod of FIG. 7 is associated with the communication system of FIG. 3B.In stage 4000, user descriptive data for a user is acquired. Preferably,the user descriptive data is acquired associated with a particulartelephone.

In stage 4010, a plurality of audio portions is provided to each of thetelephones, each of the plurality of audio portions being selectedresponsive to the user descriptive data of stage 4000. The audioportions preferably comprise one of an advertisement, music andcomposite information, however there is no requirement that all of theaudio portions be of the same category. Optionally, at least one of theaudio portions has further associated therewith an associated text,image or video portion, or a combination thereof, for display on thetelephone.

In stage 4020, a reimbursement rule associated with each of providedaudio portions of stage 4010 is provided to the telephone. Optionally,the reimbursement rules are responsive to the user descriptive data ofstage 4000. In particular, for each audio portion a particularreimbursement rule is provided. There is no requirement that thereimbursement rule be of a single function, and complex reimbursementrules are particularly anticipated. In one non-limiting example,reimbursement rules are associated with one or more of frequency ofoutput of the associated audio portion and time of day of output of theassociated audio portion.

In stage 4030, for each call instance of each telephone, where thetelephone is the call initiator, a particular audio portion of theprovided plurality of audio portions of stage 4010 is selected foroutput to be heard by the call initiator prior to call connection. Theaudio portion is selected responsive to the provided reimbursement rulesof stage 4020. Optionally, the audio portion is selected in accordancewith an algorithm to maximize total reimbursement. Thus, the audioportions are selected so as to maximize reimbursement to the user.

In stage 4040, at least a portion of the selected audio portion isoutput to the user. In particular, upon call initiation the selectedaudio portion is promptly initiated, and as described above in relationto each of FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, audio output from the called telephone orcalled telephone network is blocked until the call is answered. Thelength of the portion of the selected audio portion output is in oneembodiment a function of the time elapsed from call initiation until avoice response from the called telephone is detected. In the event of afailure of the call to be completed, in one embodiment a predeterminedlength of the selected audio portion is output. Optionally, concurrentwith the output of the selected audio portion, any associated text,image or video portion is output on a display of the telephone.

In optional stage 4050, a history of the output audio portion ismaintained, preferably comprising the length of the audio portion whichwas output. In one embodiment, the history further comprises a completetime history including times of day in which the audio portion wasoutput, and number of times the audio portion was output. Optionally,the history information is further transmitted automatically to anetwork maintenance and supervisory agent.

In optional stage 4060, a feedback mechanism is further provided for atleast some of the audio portions, enabling the call initiator to respondto the audio portion, and/or the optional associated text, image orvideo portion. Any user input is preferably stored with the historyinformation of stage 4050. In one embodiment, the feedback mechanismenables connection of the user to a service after completion of the callbeing currently initiated. In another embodiment, the feedback mechanismprovides for an immediate order placement, without requiring furtherconnection.

In optional stage 4070, updated reimbursement rules are receivedresponsive to the transmitted history of stage 4050. Optionally, theupdated reimbursement rules are further responsive to the useddescriptive data of stage 4000.

In optional stage 4080, the algorithm for selection of audio portions ismodified so as to prevent repetitive replay of particular audioportions. Thus, in one non-limiting example in which the selectionalgorithm is operative to maximize total reimbursement, and a particularaudio portion exhibits a reimbursement rate greater than all other audioportions, stage 4080 is operative to prevent repetitive replay of thesingle audio portion exhibiting the greater reimbursement rate. Stage4080 is not limited to barring repetitive reimbursement, and in oneembodiment stage 4080 is operative to ensure that a mix of audioportions is used as an additional factor in the selection of audioportions of stage 4030.

Thus, the present embodiments enable an on-board controlled audio agentprovided with a plurality of audio portions to be output to aninitiating caller until call connection with a voice response. Incertain embodiments, associated with each of the audio portions is atleast one reimbursement rule, and the controlled audio agent isoperative to select the audio portion responsive to the reimbursementrules. Preferably the controlled audio agent is operative to select theaudio portion so as to maximize total reimbursement responsive to thereimbursement rules.

In certain embodiments the controlled audio agent maintains a history ofaudio portions output to the caller, and uploads the history to anetwork maintenance and supervision agent. The network maintenance andsupervision agent is operative to regularly provide updatedreimbursement rules and audio portions responsive to the uploadedhistory.

FIG. 8A illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a telephone 300comprising an apparatus for controlled advertisement display 320; andFIG. 8B illustrates a high level block diagram of apparatus forcontrolled advertisement display 320, FIGS. 8A-8B being describedtogether. Apparatus for controlled advertisement display 320 comprises:a controlled display agent 330, exhibiting a memory 340, a callidentifier 350 and a selector 355; and a data communication module 360in communication with controlled display agent 330. Display agent 330 isfurther in communication with a display 370 of telephone 300 and datacommunication module 360 is further in communication with a network 380.Each of display agent 330 and data communication module 360 may beconstituted of special purpose hardware, or may be a general computingdevice programmed to provide the functionality described herein. Theinstructions for the general computing device may be stored on memory340 without limitation. In one embodiment, memory 340 is a generalpurpose memory of telephone 300. In another embodiment, each of displayagent 330 and data communication module 360 is a particular portion of acomputer readable medium containing instructions for implementing thefunctions described below, the instructions arranged to be executed by aprocessor of telephone 300. In one embodiment, network 380 is one of: acellular network; a telephony network; and the internet.

In operation, data communication module 360 is arranged to download aplurality of display portions from network 380 and store the downloadeddisplay portions on memory 340 of display agent 330. Each of theplurality of downloaded display portions is arranged to illustrate anadvertisement different than advertisements illustrated by otherdownloaded display portions. In one embodiment, each display portion isarranged to illustrate a unique advertisement. In another embodiment,two or more of the downloaded display portions may be arranged toillustrate similar advertisements. In one embodiment, each of theillustrated advertisements of the downloaded display portions isassociated with a particular offering for sale and/or a particularprovider, such as a service provider or a merchandise provider. In oneembodiment, as will be described below, the display portions aredownloaded from a commercial information server in communication withnetwork 380, the display portion sever having stored thereon a pluralityof display portions associated with a plurality of providers. In anotherembodiment, the display portions are downloaded from a particularprovider.

Call identifier 350 of display agent 330 is arranged to identify a callinstance on telephone 300. In one embodiment, call identifier 350 isarranged to identify one of: a call initiation by telephone 300; anincoming call to telephone 300; an active call between telephone 300 andanother telephone; and a call termination on telephone 300. In oneembodiment, call identifier 350 is arranged to receive an indication ofthe call condition from a network in communication with datacommunication module 60. In another embodiment, call identifier 350 isarranged to identify the call condition responsive to analysis of dataon telephone 300. Selector 355 of display agent 330 is arranged toselect a particular one of the downloaded display portions stored onmemory 340. In one embodiment, as will be described below, selector 355is arranged to select the particular display portion responsive to aplurality of rules. In one embodiment, selector 355 is arranged toselect the particular display portion responsive to an identified callinstance on telephone 300.

Display agent 330 is arranged to display the selected display portion ondisplay 370 of telephone 300, such that the advertisement illustrated bythe displayed display portion is displayed on display 370. In oneembodiment, the selected display portion is displayed responsive to acall instance termination on telephone 300. In another embodiment, theselected display portion is displayed responsive to one of: a callinstance initiation by telephone 300; an incoming call to telephone 300;and an active call between telephone 300 and another telephone. In oneembodiment, selector 355 is arranged to select from the plurality ofdownloaded display portions, such that a plurality of the downloadeddisplay portions are displayed on display 370 for a predetermined numberof call instance terminations. In one further embodiment, selector 355is arranged to select, for each call instance, a display portionillustrating a different advertisement than the advertisementillustrated by a previously selected display portion. In one embodimentas will be described below, after one or more display portions aredisplayed, the displayed display portions are removed from memory 340and data communication module 360 is arranged to download displayportions to replace the removed display portions.

FIG. 9A illustrates a high level schematic diagram of a telephone 300associated with an apparatus for controlled advertisement display 400comprising a controlled audio agent 405 associated with telephone 300;and FIG. 9B illustrates a high level block diagram of apparatus forcontrolled advertisement display 400, FIGS. 9A-9B being describedtogether. Apparatus for controlled advertisement display 400 comprises:a controlled display agent 405 exhibiting a memory 410, a callidentifier 350 and a selector 355; a data communication module 360 incommunication with controlled display agent 405; a user input device420; and a supervisory functionality 430. Further illustrated is aprivate information server 440 in communication with network 380; and acommercial information sever 450 in communication with network 380. Inone embodiment, memory 410 comprises: a display storage portion 412; ahistory storage 416; and a rules storage 418. Private information server440 comprises user descriptive data such as at least one of age, sex,income, job description and preferred hobby, as described above inrelation to private information server 210. Commercial informationserver 450 comprises a plurality of display portions. As described abovein relation to FIGS. 8A-8B, each display portion is arranged toillustrate an advertisement. In one embodiment, each of the illustratedadvertisements is associated with a particular offering for sale and/ora particular provider, such as a service provider or a merchandiseprovider. In one embodiment commercial information server 450 comprisesdisplay portions arranged to illustrate advertisements associated with aplurality of providers. In another embodiment, commercial informationserver 450 comprises display portions arranged to illustrateadvertisements associated with a single provider. In one embodiment, asdescribed above in relation to commercial information server 200,commercial information server 450 further comprises rules associatedwith each of the plurality of audio portions, in one further embodimentthe rules being reimbursement rules. As described above, there is norequirement that the rules be static, and in one embodiment commercialinformation server 450 is further arranged to receive a composite ofhistory information received from each of the supervisoryfunctionalities 430 of various telephones 300 in communicationtherewith, and in response the reimbursement rules or display portionsmay be changed.

Each of controlled display agent 405, data communication module 360 andsupervisory functionality 430 may be constituted of special purposehardware, or may be a general computing device programmed to provide thefunctionality described herein. The instructions for the generalcomputing device may be stored on memory 410 without limitation. In oneembodiment, memory 410 is a general purpose memory of telephone 300. Inone embodiment, user input device 420 is a key pad of telephone 300. Inanother embodiment, each of display agent 405, data communication module360 and supervisory functionality 430 is a particular portion of acomputer readable medium containing instructions for implementing thefunctions described below, the instructions arranged to be executed by aprocessor of telephone 300. In another embodiment, as will be describedbelow, user input device 420 is one or more particular locations ondisplay 370, which is provided as a touch screen. In another embodiment,user input device 420 is arranged to receive voice commands from amicrophone of telephone 300 (not shown).

Display agent 405 is further in communication with a display 370 oftelephone 300 and data communication module 360 is further incommunication with a network 380 and a network 470, the connections notshown for the sake of simplicity. In one embodiment, network 470 is oneof: a cellular network; a telephony network; and the internet. Inanother embodiment (not shown), network 470 is embodied within network380. Supervisory functionality 430 is in communication with user inputdevice 420 and with data communication module 360, the connection withuser input device not shown for the sake of simplicity.

In one embodiment, apparatus for controlled advertisement display 400further comprises: an optional audio portion storage 480; and anoptional controlled audio agent 490, associated with optional audioportion storage 480. In one embodiment, optional audio portion storage480 and optional controlled audio agent 490 are on-board telephone 300,as described above in relation to audio agent 120 and audio portionstorage 170 of FIG. 2. In such an embodiment, a plurality of audioportions are downloaded from commercial information server 450, asdescribed above in relation to commercial server 200. In anotherembodiment (not shown), optional audio portion storage 480 and optionalcontrolled audio agent 490 are external of telephone 300, optionalcontrolled audio agent 490 in communication with telephone 300 vianetwork 380. In either embodiment, optional controlled audio agent 490is in communication with optional audio portion storage 480. In oneembodiment, optional controlled audio agent 490 is further incommunication with controlled display agent 405 and optional audioportion storage 480 is further in communication with communicationmodule 360. As described above in relation to FIGS. 1-7, optional audioportion storage 480 has stored thereon a plurality of audio portions,and in one embodiment each audio portion exhibits an audioadvertisement. Each of optional controlled audio agent 490 and optionalaudio portion storage 480 may be constituted of special purposehardware, or may be a general computing device programmed to provide thefunctionality described herein. The instructions for the generalcomputing device may be stored on memory 410 without limitation.

In operation, responsive to user descriptive data stored on subscriber'sprivate information server 440, network maintenance and supervisionagent 460 is arranged to select display portions from commercialinformation server 450 and optional related reimbursement rules, anddownload the selected data to a telephone 300 whose user descriptivedata matches a target profile, as described above in relation to networkmaintenance and supervision agent 260 of FIG. 3B. In one embodiment, thereimbursement rules are sensitive to certain user descriptive data, andno reimbursement is offered for subscriber's whose user descriptive datastored on subscriber's private information server 440 does not match adesired profile.

Network maintenance and supervision agent 460 is further arranged toautomatically upload from each telephone 300, preferably on a periodicbasis, history information associated with each of the downloadeddisplay portions and stored on history storage 416, as will be describedbelow. In certain embodiments, network maintenance and supervision agent460 is further arranged to consolidate history information from aplurality of telephones 300, and provide the consolidated historyinformation to commercial information server 200, as described above inrelation to FIG. 3B. In another embodiment, history informationassociated with activities of the user of telephone 300 are uploaded tonetwork maintenance and supervision agent 460 and display portions aredownloaded responsive to the activities of the user, as described below.

As described above in relation to FIGS. 8A-8B, the display portions andoptional reimbursement rules are downloaded via data communicationmodule 60 and stored on memory 410. In one embodiment, the displayportions are stored on display storage portion 412 and the optionalreimbursement rules are stored on rules storage 418.

Call identifier 350 of display agent 405 is arranged to identify a callinstance on telephone 300, as described above. As described above,selector 355 of display agent 405 is arranged to select a particular oneof the downloaded display portions stored on memory 410. In oneembodiment, selector 355 is arranged to select the particular displayportion responsive to one or more reimbursement rules stored on rulesstorage 418. In one embodiment, selector 355 is arranged to select theparticular display portion responsive to an identified call instance ontelephone 300. In one further embodiment, selector 355 is arranged toselect the particular display portion responsive to an identified callinstance termination on telephone 300. In one embodiment, the displayportion is selected responsive to the detected type of call status, i.e.call initiation, call termination, or answering of call, the selectionfurther being responsive to the properties of the display portion. Forexample, a display portion being selected responsive to a callinitiation may comprise a different display length and/or differentcontent than a display portion selected responsive to a call terminationor responsive to an answering of a call.

In another embodiment, selector 355 is arranged to select the particulardisplay portion responsive to a previously selected display portionbeing displayed on display 70. In particular, as will be describedbelow, information regarding display portions which are displayed ondisplay 70 is stored on history storage portion 416 of memory 410 andselector 355 is arranged to select a particular display portionresponsive to the stored history information and responsive to the rulesstored on rules storage portion 418 of memory 410.

As described above in relation to display agent 330, display agent 405is arranged to display the selected display portion on display 370 oftelephone 300, such that the advertisement illustrated by the displayeddisplay portion is displayed on display 370. As described above, in oneembodiment selector 55 is arranged to select from the plurality ofdownloaded display portions, such that a plurality of the downloadeddisplay portions are displayed on display 370 for a predetermined numberof call instance terminations. In one further embodiment, selector 355is arranged to select, for each call instance, a display portionillustrating a different advertisement than the advertisementillustrated by a previously selected display portion. In one embodiment,the displayed display portion illustrates a request for a user input. Inone further embodiment, the requested user input is one of: a usergesture on a keypad of telephone 300; a user gesture on a particularportion of display 370; and a voice command. In one embodiment, adisplay portion arranged to illustrate an advertisement is displayed ondisplay 370 and subsequent to the display of the advertisement anotherdisplay portion is displayed on display 370 illustrating a request for auser input associated with the previously displayed advertisement.

In one embodiment, a plurality of requests for user inputs are displayedon display 370, each request for a user input corresponding to adifferent mode of communication with the provider of the displayedadvertisement over network 470. In one non-limiting embodiment, arequest for a user inputs comprises one of: a request to connect to aweb site of the provider; a request to initiate a call to the provider;a request to receive a call from the provider; a request to receiveinformation from the provider via short messaging service (SMS); arequest to receive information from the provider via e-mail; and arequest to download data associated with the advertised provider, orproduct, such as a coupon or an application arranged to run on telephone300.

In one embodiment, as described above, a user can press one or more keyson a keypad of telephone 300 responsive to the request for a user input.In another embodiment, as described above, a user can vocally enter avoice command in the microphone of telephone 300 responsive to therequest for a user input. In another embodiment, as described above,display 370 is a touch screen and a user can touch a portion of display370 corresponding to the particular request for user input. Responsiveto a user input on user input device 420, supervisory functionality 430,in cooperation with data communication module 360, is arranged toinitiate a data connection to an address of network 470, the addressresponsive to the received user input and the displayed request for userinput. In particular, in the embodiment where the request for user inputis a request for a data connection with the provider of theadvertisement, such as a telephone call, SMS, e-mail, connection to aweb site, or data download, supervisory functionality 430 is arranged toinitiate the data connection with the network address of the providerand perform the act indicated by the request for user input.

In another embodiment, the request for a user input comprises a requestfor an audio advertisement and responsive to a request for an audioadvertisement optional controlled audio agent 490 is arranged to outputan audio portion associated with the advertisement illustrated by thedisplayed display portion is output such that audio portion is heard bythe user of telephone 300.

In one embodiment, after one or more display portions are displayed, thedisplayed display portions are removed from memory 40 and datacommunication module 60 is arranged to download display portions toreplace the removed display portions. As described above, in oneembodiment each display portion stored on storage portion 412 hasassociated therewith one or more rules stored on rules storage 418. Inone embodiment, the rules comprise information regarding the amount oftime a display portion should be stored on telephone 300 before beingupdated, and displayed display portions are replaced by additionaldisplay portions responsive to the amount of time the display portionhas been stored on telephone 300. In another embodiment, replacementdisplay portions are downloaded responsive to the time of day. In oneembodiment, as described above, information regarding the displayeddisplay portion is stored on history storage 416, such as the time ofday at which the display occurred and an identifier of the displayeddisplay portion and replacement display portions are downloadedresponsive to the stored information. In one embodiment, supervisoryfunctionality is arranged to store information about activities of theuser of telephone 300 on history storage 416, such as access toparticular web sites or phone calls initiated to certain numbers, andthe replacement display portions are downloaded responsive to the storedinformation.

In the embodiment where optional controlled audio agent 490 is provided,as described above in relation to FIGS. 1-7, a particular one of theaudio portions stored on optional audio portion storage 480 is selectedby optional controlled audio agent 490, the selected audio portioncontaining an audio advertisement. When a user of telephone 300initiates a call an audio portion is output by optional controlled audioagent 490 such that at least a portion of said output audio portion isheard by the user prior to call connection. As described above,controlled display agent 405 is arranged to select a display portion tobe displayed on display 370, in one embodiment the selection isresponsive to the output audio portion such that the displayedadvertisement corresponds to the advertisement of the output audioportion. In one embodiment, the selected display portion is displayed ondisplay 370 contemporaneously with the output of the audio portion.

FIG. 10 illustrates a high level flow chart of a method of controlledadvertisement display on a telephone. In stage 5000, a plurality ofdisplay portions are downloaded to the telephone, each display portionillustrating an advertisement different than the advertisement of theother downloaded display portions. In one embodiment, each of theillustrated advertisements is associated with one of: a particularoffering for sale; and a particular provider, such as a service provideror a merchandise provider. In another embodiment, the display portionsare downloaded responsive to descriptive data of the user of thetelephone, the descriptive data optionally stored on a privateinformation server.

In stage 5010, a particular one of the downloaded display portions ofstage 5000 are selected. In one embodiment, the selection is responsiveto one or more rules associated with the downloaded display portions,optionally the rules comprising reimbursement rules. In stage 5020, theselected display portion of stage 5010 is displayed on the telephoneresponsive to a call instance on the telephone. In one embodiment, theselected display portion is displayed responsive to a call instancetermination. In another embodiment, all of the downloaded displayportions of stage 5000 are arranged to be displayed responsive to apredetermined number of call instance terminations.

In optional stage 5030, a user input is received. In one embodiment, theuser input is responsive to a request for a user input displayed on thedisplay of the telephone. Optionally, the displayed display portion ofstage 5020 comprises the request for user input. In optional stage 5040,a data connection is initiated to a network address responsive to thereceived user input of stage 5030 and responsive to the displayeddisplay portion of stage 5020. As described above, the displayed displayportion illustrates an advertisement, the data connection being to anetwork address of the provider of the advertisement.

In optional stage 5050, a particular one of a plurality of audioportions are selected. In one embodiment, the plurality of audioportions are downloaded to the telephone and the particular audioportion is selected from the plurality of downloaded audio portions. Inone embodiment, each audio portion comprises an audio advertisement. Inoptional stage 5060, the selected audio portion of stage 5050 is outputat a call instance initiation, initiated by the telephone, such that atleast a portion of the output audio portion is heard by a call initiatorprior to call connection. In one embodiment, the selecting of a displayportion of stage 5010 is responsive to the output audio portion suchthat the advertisement illustrated by the selected display portion ofstage 5010 is associated with the advertisement of the output audioportion.

FIG. 11 illustrates a high level block diagram of an apparatus forcontrolled advertisement display 500. Apparatus for controlledadvertisement display 500 comprises: a memory 510; a controlled displayagent 520, in communication with memory 510 and exhibiting a callidentifier 350; and a data communication module 360 in communicationwith controlled display agent 520. Apparatus for controlledadvertisement display 500 is situated within telephone 300, as describedabove in relation to apparatus for controlled advertisement display 320of FIG. 8A. Display agent 520 is further in communication with display370 of telephone 300 and data communication module 360 is arranged to bein communication with network 380, as described above in relation toFIG. 8A. As described above, each of display agent 520 and datacommunication module 360 may be constituted of special purpose hardware,or may be a general computing device programmed to provide thefunctionality described herein. The instructions for the generalcomputing device may be stored on memory 510 without limitation. In oneembodiment, memory 510 is a general purpose memory of telephone 300. Inanother embodiment, each of display agent 520 and data communicationmodule 360 is a particular portion of a computer readable mediumcontaining instructions for implementing the functions described below,the instructions arranged to be executed by a processor of telephone300. In one embodiment, as described above, network 380 is one of: acellular network; a telephony network; and the internet.

In operation, in one embodiment display agent 520 periodicallydetermines if a display portion is stored on memory 510. In the eventdisplay agent 520 determines that no display portion is stored on memory510, data communication module 360 is arranged to download a displayportion from network 380 and store the downloaded display portion onmemory 510. The downloaded display portion is arranged to illustrate anadvertisement. In one embodiment, the illustrated advertisement isassociated with a particular offering for sale and/or a particularprovider, such as a service provider or a merchandise provider. In oneembodiment, as described above, the display portion is downloaded from acommercial information server 450 in communication with network 380, thedisplay portion sever having stored thereon a plurality of displayportions associated with a plurality of providers. In anotherembodiment, the display portion is downloaded from a particularprovider. In one embodiment, as described above in relation to FIG. 9A,the display portion is downloaded to telephone 300 by networkmaintenance and supervision agent 460 which is in communication withcommercial information server 450 and a private information server 440.As described above, in one embodiment private information server 440exhibits user descriptive data associated with a user of telephone 300and commercial information server 450 exhibits a plurality of displayportions and rules associated with the plurality of display portions,the display portion downloaded responsive to at least one of the userdescriptive data and the associated rules. In one embodiment, theassociated rules are reimbursement rules. In one embodiment, displayagent 520 is arranged to delete any display portion stored on memory 510responsive to the download of a new display portion.

In one embodiment, network maintenance and supervision agent 460 isarranged to add to the display portion time to live (TTL) information,indicating the time when the display portion expires. In one embodiment,the TTL information is determined responsive to user descriptive datastored on private information server 440 and/or reimbursement rulesstored on commercial information server 450. In another embodiment, eachdisplay portion stored on commercial information server 450 comprisesTTL information, optionally provided by a provider associated with theparticular display portion.

As described above, call identifier 350 of display agent 520 is arrangedto identify a call instance on telephone 300 and in one embodiment, callidentifier 350 is arranged to identify one of: a call initiation bytelephone 300; an incoming call to telephone 300; an active call betweentelephone 300 and another telephone; and a call termination on telephone300. Display agent 520 is arranged to display the downloaded displayportion on display 370 of telephone 300, such that the advertisementillustrated by the displayed display portion is displayed on display370. In one embodiment, the display portion is displayed responsive to acall instance termination on telephone 300, detected by call identifier350. In another embodiment, the selected display portion is displayedresponsive to one of: a call instance initiation by telephone 300; anincoming call to telephone 300; and an active call between telephone 300and another telephone. In the embodiment where the downloaded displayportion comprises TTL information, the display portion is displayed onlyif the display portion hasn't expired. In one embodiment, subsequent todisplaying the display portion on display 370, or subsequent to theexpiration of the display portion responsive to the TTL information,display agent 520 deletes the display portion from memory 510.

Subsequent to displaying of the downloaded display portion on display370, or subsequent to the expiration of the display portion responsiveto the TTL information, display agent 520 determines if communicationmodule 360 is in communication with network 380. In the event displayagent 520 determines that communication module 360 is in communicationwith network 380, display agent 520 initiates a request, via datacommunication module 360, for a new display portion. In one embodiment,the request is transferred via network 380 to network maintenance andsupervision agent 460. Responsive to the request a new display portionis downloaded to telephone 300, as described above.

In the event display agent 520 determines that communication module 360is not in communication with network 380, for example in the embodimentwhere network 380 is the internet and there is no internet connection,display agent 520 creates a time stamp of the current time and storesthe time stamp in memory 510. In one embodiment, display agent 520 isarranged to periodically determine if a time stamp is stored in memory510. In the event display agent 520 determines that a time stamp isstored in memory 510, display agent 520 determines if telephone 300 isin communication with network 380, as described above.

In the event display agent 520 determines that communication module 360is in communication with network 380, display agent 520 transmits tonetwork 380, via communication module 360, the time stamp stored onmemory 510. In one embodiment, a request for a new display portion isfurther transmitted to network 380. In another embodiment, the timestamp is transmitted to network maintenance and supervision agent 460.Network maintenance and supervision agent 460 is arranged to download anew display portion to telephone 300, responsive to the received timestamp. In one embodiment, network maintenance and supervision agent 460compares the received time stamp to TTL information associated with thedisplay portion previously downloaded to telephone 300. In the eventthat the received time stamp corresponds to the TTL information, networkmaintenance and supervision agent 460 concludes that the display portionpreviously downloaded to telephone 300 has expired and was not displayedon telephone 300. In the event the received time stamp does notcorrespond to the TTL information, network maintenance and supervisionagent 460 concludes that the display portion previously downloaded totelephone 300 has been displayed on telephone 300. In one embodiment,network maintenance and supervision agent 460 stores the concludedinformation on commercial information server 450. In another embodiment,network maintenance and supervision agent 460 is arranged to select anew display portion to download to telephone 300 responsive to theconcluded information. For example, in the event a display portion isselected responsive to reimbursement rules, as described above,information indicating whether a particular display portion was or wasnot displayed on telephone 300 will impact the selection of the newdisplay portion. In one embodiment, subsequent to transmitting the timestamp to network 380, display agent 520 is arranged to delete the timestamp from memory 510.

In another embodiment, display agent 520 is arranged to periodicallydetermine if communication module 360 is in communication with network380. In the event display agent 520 determines that communication module360 is in communication with network 380, display agent 520 is furtherarranged to determine if a time stamp is stored on memory 510. In theevent display agent 520 determines that a time stamp is stored on memory510, the time stamp is transmitted to network 380, as described above.

Thus, when the stored display portion is displayed or expires and thereis no communication between telephone 300 and network 380, a time stampis created. When communication is established between telephone 300 andnetwork 380, the time stamp is transmitted to network 380, thetransmitted time stamp allowing network maintenance and supervisionagent 460 to determine if the display portion was, or was not,displayed. As described above, in one embodiment a request for a newdisplay portion accompanies the transmitted time stamp. During theperiod when no communication is established between telephone 300 andnetwork 380, the stored time stamp is not altered. Therefore, whencommunication is established, network 380 will receive a time stampindicating the time in which the downloaded display portion wasdisplayed, or the downloaded display portion expired. In the event notime stamp is stored on memory 510, no request for a new display portionis transmitted to network 380.

FIG. 12A illustrates a high level block diagram of an apparatus forcontrolled advertisement display 600; and FIG. 12B illustrates a highlevel low chart of the method of operation of apparatus for controlledadvertisement display 600, the Figs. being described together. Apparatusfor controlled advertisement display 600 is in all respects similar toapparatus for controlled advertisement display 500 of FIG. 11 andfurther comprises: a supervisory functionality 430; an optional audioportion storage 480; and an optional audio agent 490. Optional audioportion storage 480 is in communication with communication module 360and optional audio agent 490 is in communication with optional audioportion storage 480. As described above in relation to FIGS. 9A-9B,supervisory functionality 430 is in communication with communicationmodule 360, user input device 420 and display agent 520. Communicationmodule 360 is further arranged to be in communication with a secondnetwork 470, as described above in relation to FIG. 9A.

As described above, in one embodiment optional audio portion storage 480and optional controlled audio agent 490 are on-board telephone 300. Insuch an embodiment, a plurality of audio portions are downloaded fromcommercial information server 450, as described above in relation tocommercial server 200. In another embodiment (not shown), optional audioportion storage 480 and optional controlled audio agent 490 are externalof telephone 300, optional controlled audio agent 490 in communicationwith telephone 300 via network 380. In either embodiment, optionalcontrolled audio agent 490 is in communication with optional audioportion storage 480. As described above in relation to FIGS. 1-7,optional audio portion storage 480 has stored thereon a plurality ofaudio portions, and in one embodiment each audio portion exhibits anaudio advertisement.

In operation, in stage 6000, a display portion is downloaded viacommunication module 360 and stored on memory 510, as described above inrelation to FIG. 11. As described above, in one embodiment thedownloaded display portion comprises TTL information. In one embodiment,a time stamp is created at the moment of download of the displayportion, the time stamp stored on network maintenance and supervisionagent 460. In stage 6010, call identifier 350 of display agent 520 isarranged to detect a call instance on telephone 300, as described above.In one embodiment, call identifier 350 is arranged to detect a callinstance termination. In stage 6020, display agent 520 is arranged todisplay the downloaded display portion of stage 6000 on display 370 oftelephone 300, responsive to the detected call instance, and optionallythe detected call instance termination, of stage 6010. In stage 6030,display agent 520 is arranged to determine if telephone 300 is incommunication with first network 380, via communication module 360.

In stage 6040, in the event that in stage 6030 display agent 520determines that telephone 300 is in communication with network 380,display agent 520 is arranged to initiate a request to network 380, viacommunication module 360, for a new display portion, as described above.Optionally, as described above, the request for a new display portion istransmitted responsive to one of: displaying of the downloaded displayportion of stage 6020; and the expiration of the downloaded displayportion of stage 6000, responsive to the associated TTL information.Further optionally, the request for a new display portion is transmitteddirectly responsive to one of: displaying of the downloaded displayportion of stage 6020; and the expiration of the downloaded displayportion of stage 6000, responsive to the associated TTL information,i.e. the request for a new display portion is transmitted substantiallysolely responsive to one of the above actions.

In stage 6050, in the event that in stage 6030 display agent 520determines that telephone 300 is not in communication with network 380,display agent 520 is arranged to create a time stamp with the currenttime. Optionally, as described above, the creation of a time stamp isperformed responsive to one of: displaying of the downloaded displayportion of stage 6020; and the expiration of the downloaded displayportion of stage 6000, responsive to the associated TTL information.Further optionally, the creation of a time stamp is performed directlyresponsive to one of: displaying of the downloaded display portion ofstage 6020; and the expiration of the downloaded display portion ofstage 6000, responsive to the associated TTL information. In stage 6060,in the event a time stamp was created in stage 6050, the created timestamp is stored on memory 510.

In optional stage 6070, as described above, display agent 520 isarranged to determine if a time stamp is stored on memory 510,optionally the determination being performed periodically. In optionalstage 6080, as described above, display agent 520 is arranged todetermine if telephone 300 is in communication with network 380. In oneembodiment, stage 6080 is performed only in the event display agent 520determines in optional stage 6070 that a time stamp is stored on memory510. In another embodiment, optional stages 6070 and 6080 are reversedand optional stage 6070 is performed only in the event display agent 520determines in optional stage 6080 that telephone 300 is in communicationwith network 380.

In optional stage 6090, in the event display agent 520 determines inoptional stage 6070 that a time stamp is stored on memory 510 anddetermines that telephone 300 is in communication with network 380,display agent 520 is arranged to transmit the stored time stamp to firstnetwork 380, as described above. In one embodiment, network maintenanceand supervision agent 460 determines if the display portion was, or wasnot, displayed by comparing the received time stamp with the TTLassociated with the previously downloaded display portion and with atime stamp indicating the time of download of the previously downloadeddisplay portion. In the event the difference in time between thereceived time stamp and the time stamp indicating the time of downloadis equal to the TTL, network maintenance and supervision agent 460determines that the display portion expired and was not displayed. Inthe event the difference in time between the received time stamp and thetime stamp indicating the time of download is not equal to the TTL,network maintenance and supervision agent 460 determines that thedisplay portion was displayed. In one embodiment, a new display portionis downloaded to telephone 300, as described above in relation to stage6000, the new display portion selected responsive to the determinationthat the downloaded display portion was displayed or expired. In anotherembodiment, reimbursement information associated with the user oftelephone 300 is adjusted responsive to the determination that thedownloaded display portion was displayed or expired. In one embodiment,a provider associated with the downloaded display portion is debitedresponsive to the determination that the downloaded display portion wasdisplayed or expired.

In optional stage 6100, a user input is received at user input device420. As described above in relation to FIGS. 9A-9B, in one embodimentthe user input is entered responsive to a request for user inputillustrated by the displayed display portion of stage 6020. In optionalstage 6110, supervisory functionality 430 is arranged to initiate a dataconnection to an address of network 470 responsive to the received userinput of optional stage 6100 and responsive to the displayed displayportion of stage 6020, the address of network 470 being the address ofthe provider of the advertisement illustrated by the displayed displayportion of stage 6020.

In optional stage 6120, optional audio agent 490 is arranged to select aparticular audio portion from the plurality of audio portions stored onoptional audio portion storage 480. As described above, in oneembodiment the particular audio portion is selected responsive to aplurality of rules, in one embodiment the plurality of rules beingreimbursement rules. In optional stage 6130, optional audio agent 490 isarranged to output the selected audio portion of stage 6120 at a callinstance initiation such that at least a portion of the output audioportion is heard by the call initiator prior to call connection with adifferent telephone. Optionally, the downloaded display portion of stage6000 is associated with the selected audio portion of optional stage6120, such that the advertisement illustrated by the displayed displayportion of stage 6020 corresponds to the audio advertisement of theoutput audio portion.

FIG. 13A illustrates a high level block diagram of an apparatus forcontrolled advertisement display 700; and FIG. 13B illustrates a highlevel low chart of the method of operation of apparatus for controlledadvertisement display 700, the Figs. being described together. Apparatusfor controlled advertisement display 700 is in all respects similar toapparatus for controlled advertisement display 600 of FIG. 12A, with theexception that audio portion storage 480 is provided as non-optional,controlled audio agent 490 is replaced with controlled audio agent 710which comprises a first call identifier 350 and display agent 520 isreplaced with display agent 720 which comprises a second call identifier350.

As described above, in one embodiment audio portion storage 480 andcontrolled audio agent 710 are on-board telephone 300. In such anembodiment, a plurality of audio portions are downloaded from commercialinformation server 450, as described above in relation to commercialserver 200. In another embodiment (not shown), audio portion storage 480and controlled audio agent 710 are external of telephone 300, controlledaudio agent 710 in communication with telephone 300 via network 380. Ineither embodiment, controlled audio agent 710 is in communication withaudio portion storage 480. As described above in relation to FIGS. 1-7,audio portion storage 480 has stored thereon a plurality of audioportions, and in one embodiment each audio portion exhibits an audioadvertisement. Each of controlled audio agent 710 and controlled displayagent 720 may be constituted of special purpose hardware, or may be ageneral computing device programmed to provide the functionalitydescribed herein. The instructions for the general computing device maybe stored on memory 510 without limitation.

In operation, in stage 6200, first call identifier 350 of controlledaudio agent 710 is arranged to detect a first state of a call instanceon telephone 300. In one embodiment, the first state is an initiation ofa telephone call on telephone 300. In stage 6210, responsive to thedetected first state of the call instance, controlled audio agent 710 isarranged to select an audio portion from audio portions storage 480 andoutput the selected audio portion such that at least a portion of theoutput audio portion is heard by a user of telephone 300, as describedabove in relation to FIGS. 1-7. In the embodiment where the first stateis an initiation of a telephone call, controlled audio agent 710 isarranged to output the selected audio portion such that at least aportion of the output audio portion is heard by the call initiator priorto call connection.

In stage 6220, controlled display agent 720 is arranged to download adisplay portion via communication module 360 and store the downloadeddisplay portion on memory 510, as described above in relation to FIG.11. In one embodiment, a plurality of display portions are downloadedand stored on memory 510. In stage 6230, second call identifier 350 ofcontrolled display agent 720 is arranged to detect a second state of acall instance on telephone 300, the second state different than thefirst state of stage 6200. In one embodiment, the second state is atermination of the telephone call on telephone 300. In stage 6240,responsive to the detected second state of stage 6230, the downloadeddisplay portion of stage 6220 is displayed on display 370 of telephone300. In the embodiment where a plurality of display portions aredownloaded by controlled display agent 720, controlled display agent 720selects a particular display portion to be displayed, the selectedparticular display portion being associated with the output audioportion of stage 6210. In one embodiment, the selected display portionis arranged to illustrate an advertisement and the output audio portionof stage 6210 comprises an audio advertisement, the advertisement of thedisplay portion and the advertisement of the audio portion associatedwith each other. In one embodiment, where a single display portion isdownloaded to telephone 300, as described above in relation to FIGS.12A-12B, the single display portion is selected by network maintenanceand supervision agent 460 such that the downloaded display portion ofstage 6220 is associated with the output audio portion of stage 6210. Inanother embodiment, where a single display portion is downloaded totelephone 300, the output audio portion of stage 6210 is selected suchthat the audio portion is associated with the downloaded display portionof stage 6220.

In one embodiment, as described above in relation to FIGS. 11-12B, thedisplayed display portion of stage 6240 illustrates at least one requestfor a user input and supervisory functionality 430 is arranged toinitiate a data connection to an address of network 470 responsive to auser input.

It is appreciated that certain features of the invention, which are, forclarity, described in the context of separate embodiments, may also beprovided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures of the invention which are, for brevity, described in thecontext of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or inany suitable sub-combination.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meanings as are commonly understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although methodssimilar or equivalent to those described herein can be used in thepractice or testing of the present invention, suitable methods aredescribed herein.

All publications, patent applications, patents, and other referencesmentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Incase of conflict, the patent specification, including definitions, willprevail. In addition, the materials, methods, and examples areillustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the presentinvention is not limited to what has been particularly shown anddescribed hereinabove. Rather the scope of the present invention isdefined by the appended claims and includes both combinations andsub-combinations of the various features described hereinabove as wellas variations and modifications thereof, which would occur to personsskilled in the art upon reading the foregoing description.

I claim:
 1. An apparatus for controlled display on a telephone, thetelephone comprising a memory and a data communication module arrangedto be in communication with a first network, the apparatus comprising acontrolled display agent, said controlled display agent in communicationwith the memory and the data communication module, said controlleddisplay agent arranged to: download a display portion from the firstnetwork to the memory, via the data communication module; detect a callinstance; display on the telephone said downloaded display portionresponsive to said detected call instance; determine if the datacommunication module is in communication with the first network; in theevent said controlled display agent determines that the datacommunication module is in communication with the first network,request, via the data communication module, a new display portion fromthe first network; and in the event said controlled display agentdetermines that the data communication module is not in communicationwith the first network, create a time stamp, and store said created timestamp on the memory.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein saiddownloaded display portion comprises time to live information, andwherein said request for a new display portion and said time stampcreation is responsive to one of: said displaying of said downloadeddisplay portion; and expiration of said downloaded display portionresponsive to the time to live information.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein said downloaded display portion comprises time to liveinformation, and wherein said request for a new display portion and saidtime stamp creation is directly responsive to one of: said displaying ofsaid downloaded display portion; and expiration of said downloadeddisplay portion responsive to the time to live information.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein said controlled display agent is furtherarranged to detect a call instance termination, and wherein saiddisplaying of said downloaded display portion is responsive to saiddetected call instance termination.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe telephone further comprises a user input device arranged to receivea user input, wherein the apparatus further comprises a supervisoryfunctionality in communication with the user input device and saidcontrolled display agent, wherein said supervisory functionality isarranged to: receive a user input via the user input device; andinitiate a data connection to an address of a second network via thedata communication module, the address responsive to said received userinput and said displayed display portion, wherein said downloadeddisplay portion is arranged to illustrate an advertisement associatedwith a particular provider, and wherein the address is associated withthe particular provider of the advertisement illustrated by saiddisplayed display portion.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, furthercomprising a controlled audio agent, said controlled audio agentassociated with the telephone and in communication with an audio portionstorage exhibiting an audio portion, said controlled audio portionarranged to output said audio portion at a call instance initiation,initiated by the telephone, such that at least a portion of said outputaudio portion is heard by a call initiator prior to call connection,wherein said displayed downloaded display portion is associated withsaid output audio portion.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein saidcontrolled display agent is further arranged to: determine if a timestamp is stored on the memory; determine if the data communicationmodule is in communication with the first network; and in the event saidcontrolled display agent determines that a time stamp is stored on saidmemory and determines that the data communication module is incommunication with the first network, transmit to the first network, viathe data communication module, said stored time stamp.
 8. The apparatusof claim 1, further comprising: a display portion storage arranged tohave stored thereon a plurality of available display portions, eachassociated with time to live information, said downloaded displayportion being selected from said plurality of available displayportions; and a network maintenance and supervision agent incommunication with the first network and with said display portionstorage, wherein said controlled display agent is further arranged totransmit to the first network, via the data communication module, saidstored time stamp, and wherein said network maintenance and supervisionagent is arranged to: receive said transmitted time stamp; compare saidreceived time stamp with time to live information associated with saiddownloaded display portion; and responsive to said comparison, determineif said downloaded display portion was displayed on the telephone. 9.The apparatus of claim 8, wherein each of said plurality of availabledisplay portions are associated with a particular provider, and whereinresponsive to said determination said network maintenance andsupervision agent is arranged to debit the provider associated with saiddownloaded display portion.
 10. An apparatus for controlled display on atelephone, the telephone comprising a memory and a means forcommunicating data arranged to be in communication with a first network,the apparatus comprising a controlled means for displaying incommunication with the memory and the means for communicating data, saidcontrolled means for displaying arranged to: download a display portionfrom the first network to the memory, via the means for communicationdata; detect a call instance; display on the telephone said downloadeddisplay portion responsive to said detected call instance; determine ifthe means for communicating data is in communication with the firstnetwork; in the event said controlled means for displaying determinesthat the means for communicating data is in communication with the firstnetwork, request, via the means for communicating data, a new displayportion from the first network; and in the event said controlled meansfor displaying determines that the means for communicating data is notin communication with the first network, create a time stamp, and storesaid created time stamp on the memory.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein said downloaded display portion comprises time to liveinformation, and wherein said request for a new display portion and saidtime stamp creation is responsive to one of: said displaying of saiddownloaded display portion; and expiration of said downloaded displayportion responsive to the time to live information.
 12. The apparatus ofclaim 10, wherein said downloaded display portion comprises time to liveinformation, and wherein said request for a new display portion and saidtime stamp creation is directly responsive to one of: said displaying ofsaid downloaded display portion; and expiration of said downloadeddisplay portion responsive to the time to live information.
 13. Theapparatus of claim 10, wherein said controlled means for displaying isfurther arranged to detect a call instance termination, and wherein saiddisplaying of said downloaded display portion is responsive to saiddetected call instance termination.
 14. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the telephone further comprises a means for receiving a userinput, wherein the apparatus further comprises a supervisory means incommunication with the means for receiving a user input and saidcontrolled means for displaying, wherein said supervisory means isarranged to: receive a user input via the means for receiving a userinput; and initiate a data connection to an address of a second networkvia the means for communicating data, the address responsive to saidreceived user input and said displayed display portion, wherein saiddownloaded display portion is arranged to illustrate an advertisementassociated with a particular provider, and wherein the address isassociated with the particular provider of the advertisement illustratedby said displayed display portion.
 15. The apparatus of claim 10,further comprising a controlled means for outputting audio, saidcontrolled means for outputting audio associated with the telephone andin communication with an audio portion storage exhibiting an audioportion, said controlled means for outputting audio arranged to outputsaid audio portion at a call instance initiation, initiated by thetelephone, such that at least a portion of said output audio portion isheard by a call initiator prior to call connection, wherein saiddisplayed downloaded display portion is associated with said outputaudio portion.
 16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said controlledmeans for displaying is further arranged to: determine if a time stampis stored on the memory; determine if the means for communicating datais in communication with the first network; and in the event saidcontrolled means for displaying determines that a time stamp is storedon said memory and determines that the means for communicating data isin communication with the first network, transmit to the first network,via the means for communicating data, said stored time stamp.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 10, further comprising: a display portion storagearranged to have stored thereon a plurality of available displayportions, each associated with time to live information, said downloadeddisplay portion being selected from said plurality of available displayportions; and a network maintenance and supervision means incommunication with the first network and with said display portionstorage, wherein said controlled means for displaying is furtherarranged to transmit to the first network, via the means forcommunicating data, said stored time stamp, and wherein said networkmaintenance and supervision means is arranged to: receive saidtransmitted time stamp; compare said received time stamp with time tolive information associated with said downloaded display portion; andresponsive to said comparison, determine if said downloaded displayportion was displayed on the telephone.
 18. The apparatus of claim 17,wherein each of said plurality of available display portions areassociated with a particular provider, and wherein responsive to saiddetermination said network maintenance and supervision means is arrangedto debit the provider associated with said downloaded display portion.19. An apparatus for controlled display on a telephone, the telephonecomprising a memory and a data communication module arranged to be incommunication with a network, wherein the apparatus comprises: acontrolled display agent in communication with the memory and the datacommunication module; and a controlled audio agent, said controlledaudio agent associated with the telephone and in communication with anaudio portion storage arranged to store an audio portion, saidcontrolled audio agent arranged to: detect a first state of a callinstance; and output the audio portion stored on the audio portionstorage responsive to said detected first state of a call instanceinitiation, such that at least a portion of said output audio portion isheard by a user of the telephone, wherein said controlled display agentis arranged to: download a display portion from the network to thememory via the data communication module; detect a second state of thecall instance, different than the first state of the call instance; anddisplay on the telephone said downloaded display portion responsive tosaid detected second state of the call instance, wherein the displayeddownloaded display portion is associated with said output audio portion.20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said controlled display agent ison-board the telephone and is further arranged to download the audioportion from the audio portion storage via the data communicationmodule, and wherein said controlled display agent is on-board thetelephone.